Sandals Barbados

We stayed here during Christmas week. This is our 15th Sandals visit so we are no strangers to the level of service Sandals typically provides. At Sandals Barbados and the Royal side, we were subject to poor service from a couple of the restaurants. For a 5 star resort, the behaviours exhibited by the hostesses were apalling. I wouldn't even expect that level of service and attitude from a fast food restaurant. On one of the occasions at breakfast, a hostess with name starting with K greeted us reluctantly at La Parisienne. I asked how long the wait would be and she said it's a while. I asked how long, she points outside to the bar area and with a nasty tone, "ALLLLL THOSE PEOPLE ARE BEFORE YOU!" Wow. Ok. Thanks? So I asked how many tables, she counts and says 12 in the same tone an walks away to sort cutlery / table cloths. I asked her "excuse me, will you be writing us down for a table?" She comes back reluctantly again, same b1tchy tone, "you're waiting???!!" as if to discourage us from waiting. This was Christmas Day. I didn't come here for vacation and pay Sandals prices to be spoken to like that. She wrote us down but we didn't end up staying as I was quite upset. Same day, but in the evening, we went over to Portofino's for dinner. We were told the wait was about 35 minutes and we were instructed to sit at the Spices bar and we would be called when table is ready. This hostess' name starts with a T. We provided all our information to her and headed to the bar. This resturant does not take reservations so this is on a first come first served basis. 35 minutes passes by and couples that came to the bar after us have all been seated. My husband went to ask the hostess when was our turn, she said soon. He looked at the list of names waiting and noticed that people who were written down after us have already been seated. So we waited longer. By now, 1 hour has elapsed, my husband asked her again, and she said "you're next." 10 minutes after that, the hostess came back and called ANOTHER couple. What happened to "you're next"? Anyway, at that point, it was over and hour, I walked over to ask the waitress what's going on? She then proceeded to blame us and say she called us and we didn't answer. She at no point called us as everyone waiting for Portofino's was sitting at the Spices bar. I saw the list too and 6 couples who came after us were seated. She blatantly skipped us and got upset at me for looking at the list. When seated finally, we were not even offered drinks. What a joke. I've seen many bad reviews about this resort hence our reluctance to visit Sandals Barbados. But since we have tried most of the hotels in this chain, we decided to put all the reviews aside and give it a try. The reviews are pretty accurate. Despite the grounds being beautiful, we will not be returning to this one. The experiences with bad attitude from workers even deterred us from booking our next Sandals stay at the Loyalty Desk. We typically book our next Sandals stay at the end of EVERY visit. This did not happen this time. We did not want to give any business to this location. Upon check out, we waited in the Club Sandals lounge. One of the employees there spoke to us and asked how our stay was. I informed her of the 2 main interactions that upset us and she said she understands and she hears these types of complaints a lot. She said they are trying to work on it and to come back after 2 years and give them another chance. Even the employees have heard these types of complaints so not isolated incidents! Do better Sandals! After 15 stays, this might be the last.

Where do I start?! We are Sandals loyalists and this has been our worst experience thus far. The employees' personalities are great. The quality of their service, not so much. For example, lying poolside, we didn't think it would be a stretch to think that a waitperson would walk by at some point to ask if we would care for a beverage. Well, that never happened. Then we went to the Jerk Hut and the waitress started rattling off items they didn't have (no...they weren't on the menu anyway!), just as we sat down. We waited over an hour at our table at breakfast before the food came. Tables weren't wiped down after they were vacated at one of the bars (not a one-off either). It seems that all of these types of issues are management/training issues and not just poor employee performance. I probably should have started with the room now that I think of it. The smell was HORRIBLE. It was a musty, mildewy, moldy odor. My wife had a headache and it made me cough through the night. We couldn't tolerate it and asked to be moved. 48 hours later, they accommodated us (a little less musty room in the same building). The food was not to the expected standard. Entertainment was almost nonexistent and the overall experience was bad enough for us to decide that we won't be returning to Sandals Barbados.

We spent Xmas at Sandals this year and it was fabulous, the resort is large and caters for everyone. The food and drinks are great quality, especially for an all inclusive. The vibe was perfect, lots going on but plenty of opportunity to have quiet time. Service was good but could be improved, especially in the odd restaurant. I would stay in the Royal next time as our room was very tired, damp and surrounded by mosquitoes. They are doing a revamp which should hopefully fix that problem.. overall a fantastic and enjoyable stay, will definitely return someday

This was our first visit to Barbados although we have previously stayed at Sandals Grenada. We stayed for two weeks over the Christmas period in a Club Level room. When we arrived at the airport, we went to the Sandals kiosk and were told to await the transfer and then just left with no further information as to how long the wait was, there was nowhere to sit down (I have mobility issues) and after about 30 mins we were shown to a taxi. The check in at the resort was relatively quick and pain free. The rooms are nice with a great view over the beach and sea, however we found the bed a little high and a little hard resulting in back ache in the morning. The rooms are cleaned once a day and there is a turn down service in the evenings. The quality of the cleaning was OK – there were substantial cobwebs in the corners of the room when we arrived and these were still there when we left and the replacement of the towels was somewhat ‘hit and miss’ – sometimes we were left a full set, other times not. The evening turn down was also ‘hit and miss’, we received this 3 times in the 2 weeks we were there. The guy refilling the mini bar was quite efficient. The resort itself could really do with a deep clean. The beach sunbeds and tables were never cleaned during our stay and the beach area around the sunbeds seldom raked, leaving old food containers, straws etc in the sand. In the restaurants which had cloth backed seats the seat backs were grubby where people had been moving them and we did not find the level of cleanliness in the public areas (especially the floor in Spice) good at all. The food in the restaurants was generally fine but the beef was always way over salted. The breakfasts in the Parisienne and Green House were very good. The worst meal that we had was a lamb shank in the Parisienne which was so overcooked that it was black and instead of falling off the bone it needed to be cut and pulled off. After a discussion with the restaurant manager he agreed to replace it, however, it should not have been let out of the kitchen in the first place. This same evening a couple sitting at an adjacent table called the manager over saying their food was ‘inedible’ and left after the first course. A strange practice that surprised us was that some of the restaurant staff expected the guests to retain their cutlery for use in other courses and appeared somewhat aggrieved when asked for clean replacements! The bars are generally good although the two local beers are a bit tasteless but all have a good selection of spirits. However, there are a selection craft beers available in the bowling alley bar and the Merry Monkey also has a section of beers plus Newcastle Brown and local Guinness. The staff are generally very friendly and helpful; Jack in the Merry Monkey was very good and even went out of his way to find me a brandy glass for my post meal Remy Martin. Overall we definitely enjoyed our stay but found the level of service, general cleanliness and food quality poor compared to other hotel groups that we usually use eg Excellence Group and Secrets. We would love to return and try Royal Barbados but we are not sure at this stage

My wife and I flew out Christmas Day from Heathrow for 9 nights we have been to Sandals Negril and Sandals Dunns Ricer, loved them both and thoiught we would try Barbados Location Perfect. We have never seen whiter sand and cleaner bea ches. could not fault it at all. Rooms again we could not fault the cleanliness, we stayed in a second floor honeymoon suite basic level, but very very nice. they all seem to have bathtubs on the balcony..,,not ffor us, but some people may like them. Housekeeping very efficient, they came round at 5.30 each night to ask if you wanted turn down service. only downside is you have to keep an eye on the mini bar, as they often forget to replace anything used, and we had to call the cocierge service a few times to get things replaced. Same with tea bags, we are english and they only supply 2 english breakfast tea per day, if you like earl grey mint or lemon tea, they supply 2 of each. This we are used to so brought extra tea bags if our own, woirth doing if you like english breakfast. noise level. the only noises we heard were running water from the swim up suites below us and fountains..and crickets at night..perfect for us location 15 minutes from the airport. couldnt be better amenities many restaurants to choose from. could not fault the options available several swimming pools and bars during the day now the downside (for us) we are aged 72 and 73, the age range there was from young couples through to old, so quite a range to be honest when we have been to Sandals in Jamaica, it was lively and if you wanted to, you could stay up late night, there was allways something going on. NOT here. the best way to describe the resort is SLEEPY.. examples round the pools, during the day they have nusic playing to entertain people, then later in the morning the 'entertainment team' get going...the best way to describe them is..imagine Butlins redcoats, but in shorts and much fitter. we had aquacise in the pool for those that wanted it, done by a very fit, but very bored looking fitness coach, who did not seem to want to be there, he hardly interacted with the people he was showing what to do at all. Then we had a mixture of quizes...name that tune....trivia.. near the knuckle trivia..missing words..anything they could think of...they obviously had a sandals quiz and games book they were using...scavenger hunt was another one..teaching you how to do certain dances...a word of warning..dont get a sunbed too close to where the entertainment work from in front of the bar, as you are likely to get dragged up... and lets not forget bingo of course...if you like this kind of thing fine...if you NEED someone to entertain you while you are trying to chill out..FINE But what we didnt understand was that around 4 pm each day, the music was turned off, and the pool guys started closing umbrellas and if no one was sitting on a sunbed, the towels were taken off. They werent TELLING you it was time for your afternoon nap, but that is how it came across. why they could not just leave music playing I have no idea. at night, we discovered that the restaurants were almost all shutting up by 10, and the same with the bars. when we were wandering round the resort, it was almost deserted by 10, the only place open late was the english pub, called the merry monkey, which, if you like a recreation of an english pub is fine, but we came to the Caribbean for Caribbean atmosphere, not a recreation of a pub back home. I am not saying we wanted to stay up late, but we wanted the OPTION....which we had in Sandals Jamica. the two resorts themselves are beautiful, when you walk round you would not know which one you are in frankly, they have blended them together incredibly well, they are really one resort in practical terms. so if you are looking for a beautiful resort, but want a quiet time and can put up with Butlins entertainment and want an early night...this is for you....for us...we would not go back..too quiet for us, even though we were in our seventies. ps. new years eve Jamaica Dunns River last year was mind blowing, best new years eve we have ever had...towers of champagne, discos and reggae on the beach.fire eaters..acrobats...food and buffets everywhere from early evening till early morning, midnight bbq feast. This year we expected similar in Barbados, thinking it was something they did Sandals wide..NO.....this year,they expected you to eat ina restaurant before hand, they had a mix of bands on a single main stage, plenty oif champagne available, but nothing started till 9 pm, so people were wandering around waiting for it to get going, we watched the midnight beach fireworks and then went straight to bed, like a lot of people. very disappointing